Multiple Crashes Reported in Blaine County Over the Past Week

BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho (KLIX) – Deputies in the Wood River Valley responded to multiple crashes over the past week, the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office said, including a couple of injury crashes.

The reports starting coming in on Thursday, April 18, when a two-vehicle crash occurred a little before 12:30 p.m. on Highway 75 near Countryside Boulevard, south of Hailey.

According to Sheriff Steve Harkins in a news release, Hailey resident Natalie Wilson, 28, reported that while traveling southbound in a pickup truck on Highway 75 she saw a small dog run out in front of her truck. She stopped abruptly to avoid the dog and was struck from the rear by a white Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Andres Escarcega-Rogue, 43, also of Hailey.

Harkins said Escarcega-Rogue reported that he saw the dog run out in front of the vehicle in front of him and also braked, but was unable to stop in time to avoid the crash. He was taken by ground ambulance to St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries. Both drivers were wearing their seat belts, according to the sheriff.

A second collision that involved injuries was reported at 1:19 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, at the intersection of State Highway 75 and U.S. Highway 20, near the Timmerman rest area. Filer resident Mitchell W. Brooks, 17, was traveling south on Highway 75 with a single passenger in a gray Mazda MX3 when an orange Mitsubishi Mirage driven by Mark D. Ferrante, 62, of Arco heading west on Highway 20 failed to stop at the stop sign on the northeast corner of the intersection and collided with Brooks’s vehicle.

According to the news release, Ferrante’s vehicle rolled at least once, landing on its roof in the barrow pit on the right shoulder of the eastbound lane of Highway 20. All occupants were wearing seat belts. Ferrante was treated at the scene for minor injuries by Wood River Fire and Rescue.